This Side of the Curtain: Ukrainian Resistance in Uncertain Times

There will be a reception in Zelnick Pavilion after the discussion and before the concert.

The evening will begin with a free panel discussion from 6pm to 7:30pm. The discussion, "Resistance and Civic Action in Ukraine,” will focus on the nature of resistance and civic action in Ukraine and its relevance to world events. Keynote speaker Mustafa Nayyem, member of Ukrainian Parliament, Democratic Alliance, former investigative journalist, and catalytic force in Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity will be in conversation with Ukrainian activist and founder of Lviv/Kramatorsk-based Building Ukraine Together Yurko Didula, and Professor Emeritus of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Visiting Professor at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy Dr. Daniel Hryhorczuk. The panel will discuss current events in Ukraine, social reform, non-violent resistance, civic engagement, and social-environmental health.

The panel discussion will be followed by a ticketed concert at 8pm featuring the premiere performance of "This Side of the Curtain.” The multimedia work focuses on art of resistance in times of social-political uncertainty, and will be performed by over 40 musicians and dancers, directed by Associate Professor of Dance, Environmental Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and Chair of the Dance Department Katja Kolcio in collaboration with with bandurist, composer, ethnomusicologist, and civic activist Julian Kytasty, and Hartford’s Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble conducted by Alexander Kuzma. The work will also include photo footage by Evgeny Maloletka edited by Waldemart Klyuzko, design by Assistant Professor of Theater Marcela Oteíza, and musical advisement by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Nadya Potemkina.

This project is co-sponsored by Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, Dance Department, the College of the Environment, the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, and the Ukrainian Selfreliance New England Credit Union. This project is made possible in part by a grant from Wesleyan University's Creative Campus Initiative, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ New England Dance Fund, with generous support from the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation.

IMAGES CLOCKWISE (from top): Maidan Revolution of Dignity, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2013; Mustafa Nayyem; Yurko Didula on reconstruction site in war-torn city in Donetsk Province; children and parents painting anti-tank barriers in the city of Mariupil, Ukraine, near the Russian border.